Many personal injury cases end with a settlement before heading to court. By filing a personal injury claim, you may receive a settlement offer from the liable party or its insurer. Accepting a settlement is quicker and less expensive than filing a lawsuit, although you would likely receive more compensation in a successful lawsuit. However, there are situations where it is wiser to file a lawsuit than accept a settlement. A personal injury attorney will consider several factors when advising you on your case:

How Much Is the Liable Party Offering?: The insurance company would prefer to pay you the minimum amount necessary in response to your injury claim. You must consider whether the settlement amount will fully cover your injury expenses. The insurer may dispute the extent of your injuries or whether certain treatments are necessary for your recovery. Some insurers have a maximum payable amount for injury claims. You may need to file a lawsuit if the insurer cannot or will not offer enough compensation for your injury.

How Much Do You Need For Pain and Suffering?: An out-of-court settlement can include compensation for pain and suffering if your injury caused a decline in your quality of life. However, compensation for pain and suffering can be a subjective amount, even if both sides agree that it should be part of the settlement. There are different formulas to quantify pain and suffering compensation, and some of the values in the formulas depend on how severe you consider the injury to be. By filing a lawsuit, you can let the court decide the appropriate amount of pain and suffering compensation.

How Strong Is Your Case?: Illinois uses comparative fault when determining the amount to award in a personal injury lawsuit. Even if the court finds in your favor, it can decrease your award if it determines you were partially at fault for the incident that caused your injuries. You will receive nothing from the case if the court decides that the defendant was not at fault or that you were more than half at fault for the injury. If there is serious doubt about who was at fault, you may risk receiving less from the lawsuit than you would from the settlement.

Contact a McHenry County Personal Injury Attorney

Before deciding whether to accept a settlement, you should speak to a Crystal Lake, Illinois, personal injury lawyer at Botto Gilbert Lancaster, PC, to determine if it is a fair offer or if you would benefit more by filing a lawsuit. Schedule a free consultation by calling 815-338-3838.

A couple of years ago, Illinois changed its Cannabis Control Act to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Possessing less than 10 grams of marijuana is a civil law violation, punishable by a fine of $100 to $200. The change decreases the number of people who may face misdemeanor drug possession charges for what is a minor offense. However, decriminalization is not the same as legalization, a fact that recently prevented an Illinois defendant from suppressing evidence in a criminal case.

Recent Case

In People v. Rice, the defendant was charged, convicted and sentenced to 11 years in prison for possession of a controlled substance. A police officer had stopped the defendant’s vehicle for speeding and decided to conduct a search because he smelt burnt cannabis. During the search, police allegedly found:

A small bag containing marijuana on the defendant;

Two sealed envelopes containing $37,000 in the vehicle; and

A box that contained 1,300 methamphetamine pills.

Probable Cause

The defendant argued that the evidence from the police search should be suppressed because the scent of marijuana did not give the officer probable cause to conduct a search. He cited the change to Illinois law that decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana and a Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling. Massachusetts voters had passed a referendum that decriminalized the possession of one ounce or less of marijuana. The Massachusetts court determined that the scent of marijuana was no longer enough evidence of criminal activity to conduct a search because the amount that the suspect possesses may not be a criminal offense.

Divorce researchers have long sought ways to predict when marriage will end in divorce. There are too many variables to create a formula that will calculate your chances of divorce, but researchers explore many factors that correlate with increased divorce risk. One factor is whether the number of years you have been married will affect your risk of divorce. You may logically conclude that your chances of divorce will steadily decrease the longer you are married. Instead, divorce statistics show three separate periods during the length of a marriage when the risk of divorce is typically the highest.

First Two Years

The start of a marriage is understandably a time when a marriage may be vulnerable. The couple is learning what it is like to be married to each other, which is different from being in a long-term relationship:

Feelings of romance are joined or replaced by the serious responsibilities of being in a marriage;

Financial stress may test the couple’s relationship for the first time; and

People who are no longer courting each other may relax and show unseen sides of their personalities.

The first two years are when a couple is most likely to realize that their marriage was a mistake and cut ties before they become any more attached to each other.

Your employer cannot fire you in retaliation for you filing a workers’ compensation claim. Doing so would allow you to file a wrongful termination lawsuit and could also result in criminal penalties against your employer. However, your employer can legally terminate your employment after you have filed a workers’ compensation claim if there is another reason for your termination. If you believe that your employer is punishing you for your injury claim, you must document your employer’s actions as evidence of their retaliation.

Reasons for Firing

Most employers are smart enough to not tell you that they are firing you because of your workers’ compensation claim. However, your employer could be looking for an excuse to fire you that they can say was unrelated to your claim. Valid reasons to terminate your employment could include:

Misconduct on your part;

Layoffs due to a declining budget;

Not having a job that can accommodate your physical restrictions after you have reached maximum medical improvement; or

You refusing to accept a new position with your employer that accommodates your needs.

Firing you would not let your employer’s insurer off the hook for your workers’ compensation claim. You could still receive a settlement and benefits for your injury. Instead, your employer may be trying to replace you with a healthy employee who has no work restrictions.

Receiving the monetary compensation that you deserve in your personal injury case depends on convincing the court of the extent of your injury and the negative effect it has had on your life. You present detailed medical reports as evidence of your physical condition and have other people testify on how the injury limits your activity and enjoyment of life. The defense’s job is to try to discredit your evidence and show that your pain and suffering is not as bad as you claim. In recent years, defenses have turned to social media to find evidence against personal injury claimants.

Contradictory Statements

Under no circumstances should you discuss the details of your personal injury case on social media – publicly or privately. When talking about your injury, you may say something that contradicts the case you are presenting in court, such as:

The circumstances that led to your injury;

Your physical limitations as a result of the injury; and

The emotional suffering that the injury has caused you.

Never assume that a conversation on social media will remain private. The defense is looking for evidence that may cast doubt on your motivations for the lawsuit and need for compensation.

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